Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/281

 A CHANGE t>P GOYEHNMENT. 237 . Justice had been administered by Phillip in accordance WW-i* with the letter and spirit of his Conumssion and Instructions. Adminiit- Serious crimes, for which capital punishment might be^<» inflicted, were dealt with by the Court of Criminal Jurisdic- Pwiup. tion ;* minor offences were inquired into by Justices of the Peace, whose decisions were reported to the Governor. The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Judge-Advocate were Justices of the Peace ex officio-, but the ordinary Jiuttoes or magisterial duties of the settlement were discharged by the Rev. R. Johnson (Chaplain), Mr. Augustus Alt (Surveyor- General), and Mr. Richard Atkinst (Registrar of the Vice- Admiralty Court), who had been appointed Justices of the Peace by Phillip, under the authority of his Commission. Major Grose did not touch the Criminal Court, but with a stroke of the pen he abolished the magistracy. He did not innovations go so far as to cancel the appointments Phillip had made, but he deprived the Justices of their powers, and transferred the magisterial function to the officers of the New South Wales Corps. The circumstances under which the change took place, and the purpose with which it was made, are described at length by the Judge- Advocate.^ Whatever may have been the motive for making this vital a deubemte alteration in the government, it is apparent that it was done deliberately. This is shown by the fact that the assumption of office, which took place immediately after Phillip's depar- ture, and the promulgation of the order transferring the magisterial duties at Parramatta from the Justices of the and ColonitatioD, p. 171« Writing to Hunter on the Sth July, 1798, the Bex. B. JohnBon, Chaplain of the Colony, said :— ** But no sooner had GoTemor Phillip left ye colony than I was oonyinced that the plan or measures of Gbvemment were about to undergo an intire change. The civil magis- trates, within two days, received an oraer that their duty would in future be dispensed with, and nom that time until your Bxcellenoy's arrival again in the colony everything was conducted in a kind of military Dmnner. This, I believe, was the first step towards overturning all those attempt* and endeavours that had hitherto been planned and pursued for ye estabUshment of good order to be kept up amon^^ the different ranks and orders otf the inhabitants of ye colony." . •YoLi, pp. 211-215. t Afterwards appointed Judge-Advocate, t Collins, vol. 1, pp. 262-264.
 * tration of